1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to word searches, and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for conducting a confidential search.
2. Description of the Related Art
Keyword searches on the Internet, such as on the World Wide Web (“Web”), are typically not secure. That is, communication to and from a search engine normally occurs in plain text over, for example, the Hyper Text Transmission Protocol (HTTP). Additionally, a search engine routinely records searches and results to improve its associated search algorithm, as well as to gain information about the audience to improve target advertising. Thus, even after a search is complete, the search engine may retain a copy of the terms that were searched.
In some instances, a user may wish to conduct confidential searches without having to disclose the term being searched. For example, a user who conceives of a supposedly secret term, such as a password, may wish to verify if that term is unique by searching for it on the web, and if the term is truly a secret term, the user may like to keep it a secret. In other instances, the user may wish to search for key terms without making it publicly known that the terms are being searched by the user. This may be true, for example, in the context of academic research or confidential research where the very nature of the search (based on the key words) may reveal confidential information about the searcher, which the searcher may not want to disclose publicly. A user may also desire to conduct a confidential search for prospective trademarks. Performing secure searches on the Internet (or other networks), however, can prove to be challenging because the search terms are transmitted in plain text form or because the terms are recorded by the search engine performing the search.
One way to make a search more secure is to encrypt information before transmitting it to the search engine, using, for instance, the Secure Socket Layer (SSL). For example, a user may communicate with the search engine using HTTPS (HTTP over SSL), thereby encrypting communications to make it difficult for other users to sniff the search criteria or results. HTTPS is a Web protocol developed by Netscape® that encrypts and decrypts user page requests as well as the pages that are returned by the Web server. SSL can use a 40-bit key size for the RC4stream encryption algorithm (RC4, a well-known encryption algorithm, is a variable key-size stream cipher with byte-oriented operations). While HTTPS provides some level of protection for conducting private searches, it is still an inadequate solution because the search engine itself knows both the search criteria and the results.
The present invention is directed to addressing, or at least reducing, the effects of, one or more of the problems set forth above.